Adria C. LeBoeuf

Introduction

A multi-disciplinary scientist

My lab studies the collective control of development in social insects through the exchange of social fluids.

We study social systems biology:

How do social groups self-regulate through inter-individual communication?

How can a community control its own development?

How do the individual components speak to one another and how can this lead to change on a macro scale?

How does all of this evolve?

How do I pull together all of these topics? Social fluids.

I've previously worked in many fields from the biochemistry of microtubule dynamics to the biophysics of auditory mechanosensation, gaining skills in different realms of biology. One common thread is that I like to study systems where mild shifts in many weak interactions lead to a global shift in the system's behavior.

I also do a lot of communicating science to the public, mostly through the non-profit I founded, The Catalyst.

doing the science

Research

What are the functions of socially exchanged fluids?

Many organisms pass fluids between individuals of the same species that exert serious physiological effects on recipients. While the functions and physiological mechanism of these fluids are well known in some cases (e.g., for seminal fluids or maternal milk), much less know for others (e.g., saliva). The intimacy and context specific transmission of some of these fluids indicates that this type of chemical exchange might mediate a private means of communication and/or manipulation.

In my research, I have explored the contents of a fluid passed orally amongst social insects during trophallaxis, a behaviour wherein liquids are exchanged mouth-to-mouth between adults and between adults and larvae. Since its first description over a hundred years ago, trophallaxis has been widely thought of as a simple food-sharing mechanism, yet this behaviour has been observed in non-food related contexts, leading me to hypothesise that it might underlie a novel type of chemical communication. To test this hypothesis I've conducted a comprehensive analysis of this social fluid, using the ant Camponotus floridanus as a model organism. The findings are published here at eLife.

One of the coolest things I found in this social fluid is abundant quantities of an important insect hormone - 'juvenile hormone.' Why is this so cool? This hormone is well known for it's ability to shift the development of larvae from worker fate to queen fate in bees, or from small worker to big worker in some ants. People have always simply thought that different larvae have different amounts of this hormone, perhaps because they are fed more or less nutritious food, but no one guessed that the workers were feeding them this hormone directly!

I found that when I supplement the food of the care-taking worker ants with more of this hormone, double the number of larvae get raised to metamorphosis. Given this, here we have a way for worker ants to control the maturation and development of their community.

Implications for democracy

While it seems very far from politics, we can think of this as a form of ant democracy. When the ants feed the larvae they aren't just feeding them food, they are casting quantitative ballots by administering a variable quantity of juvenile hormone. When more juvenile hormone is fed to larvae by the care-taking ants, those larvae are more likely to develop into adults, rather than end up as lunch (yes, there is a lot of cannibalism in social insects!).

How does this differ from our current systems of representation? The most notable difference is that in the ant system, voting is quantitative. If an individual invests a lot of time and resources in trying to make change, she can have an effect, but there are limits. She is limited physiologically by how much juvenile hormone she personally can produce (there are no hormone multi-billionaires), but also, she is limited by diffusion. If she is not highly involved in the rearing of the larvae, her effect will be muted by those more closely involved and more time-invested.

ONGOING: quantitative analysis of control of larval development through feeding

Most organisms (including us) have time-limited development. We develop for a more or less fixed amount of time before emerging as functional creatures. Ants are different. The same group of eggs can be reared to adulthood in three weeks or three months! Working with Ofer Feinerman's group at the Weizmann, I’ve been quantitatively measuring larval feeding and larval growth.

Ongoing: neofunctionalization of proteins involved in social exchange

One of the most abundant proteins I've found in this fluid seems to have undergone a number of recent duplications as it's shifted from an ancestral localization pattern to the trophallactic fluid. In collaboration with the Privman group at University of Haifa, I've explored this neofunctionalization both biochemically and bioinformatically. See LeBoeuf et al. 2018 for the details!

sharing the science

Science Communication

I love the metaphors that science provides for the arts, and I feel strongly that the power of scientific thinking should not be reserved for only a select few after decades of schooling. I believe that by creating new media narratives for the public involving science and scientific thought processes we can improve critical thinking in our societies.

Exposure Science-Film Hackathon

Scientists and artists from around Switzerland will come together to produce short films on complex scientific subjects aimed at members of the public.

After successful events in 2016 and 2017, we are expanding beyond Lausanne (December), to Basel (February 2019) and Zurich (March 2019) as well thanks to a generous grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

The 3-day event has an amazing set of mentors in various aspects at the intersection of science communication and the arts. We are so excited to see what this event can produce!

If you are interested in taking part please visit the website and complete the application form.

If you are interested in viewing the films that the event creates then check out our youtube channel and come to see the public showings in each city!

The Catalyst is a group of scientific researchers using entertainment as a means of engagement with the public. I founded this group in 2012.

We believe combining science and the arts is valuable in a variety of ways:

Improvisational skills enable scientists to present their work in an engaging and productive manner, both to communicate new research and to illuminate the process of scientific reasoning for the general public.

Creating new media about current scientific research allows us to bring forth novel science-related narratives and authentic characters from the scientific culture. When scientists lead collaborations with theatre professionals they can connect to the public with emotional nuance while maintaining scientific integrity and highlighting new discoveries.

We stage both original and adapted theater with actors who are also practicing scientists, and we host a monthly science-based improv show in the centre of Lausanne: CatCave9.

Blue Butterfly

A modern play about acceptance

in science

in society

in ourselves

Blue Butterfly is the story of a young family grappling with demanding careers, an abnormal child, and fundamental forces of nature. Natalie and Simon are struggling scientists who turn to TEDx talks and TV to thrust their research into the spotlight, while their brilliant but dangerous seven-year-old daughter gravitates towards her grandmother's mystical beliefs. Their research into cancer, parasitism, and immunology echoes the complex dynamics of a family blind to their own dysfunction.

When life spirals into crisis, we must ask ourselves: what do we want to believe?

For 4 years either lead or coached within the speakers selection and coaching team for TEDxLausanne's main event. This meant choosing excellent speakers, helping them craft their talks, and making sure they were performing at the top of their game when they delivered their speeches on the day of the event.

An Enemy of the People

An Enemy of the Peopleby Henrik Ibsen, adapted and directed by Adria C. Le Boeuf.

Performed at the Fécule Festival at La Grange de Dorigny May 4th, 2014 and at the EPFL Salle Polyvalente May 14-15th, 2014.

The new startup incubator BioInnovate is ready for their first major success story. The Emote, a novel brain-machine interface to treat depression and other mental illnesses, is just finishing clinical trials when the outspoken and charismatic Dr. Elise Stockmann, staff scientist, reveals what she thinks may be very serious behavioural side-effects. At first hailed as excellent news, considering the product hasn’t yet gone to market, soon everyone in the small entrepreneurial community has turned on her, trying to keep her quiet for the good of the company–and for the good of everyone’s wallet.

This adaptation of Ibsen’s classic play about the failings of the majority is here transposed into our time and set in our hypothetical backyard. If we were stockholders, would we want Dr. Stockmann kept quiet?

« The majority is never right. That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent person can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population -- the intelligent ones or the fools? »

EMERGENCE, the live installation and online experience, unlocks a series of narratives that reflect the scientific and philosophical concept of emergence. Sonic and visual stories show increasing complexity from the dawn of life to political revolutions. This experience encourages physical contact and touch with strangers in a public space while at once animating the emergent properties of one’s own motion in space. As participants navigate the story logic in unison, they observe live feedback of their pathway through 4D space. As a parting artifact, a branching, emergent neuron-like path is presented as a talisman of this converging moment.

Emergence is our attempt to merge scientific stories of increasing complexity with a new type of storytelling interface that calls on people to do what comes naturally: to come together, to touch, to converge. In this way, Emergence allows embodiment of storytelling practices by participants and serves as a metaphor for increasing coherence and complexity, or emergence. Human bodies collide like particles and create new stories, together. Each new person entering into a confined space, either virtually or in physical space, will allow the group to view the next segment of the story, projected or online. Without new people converging, the stories loop. The stories can be changed, but the concept of convergence of people driving a narrative remains.

By separating the human machine interface from the content, Emergence is flexible across platforms. The installation version used Kinect and Unity as the software/hardware components of interactivity, but the system is designed and intended to use other forms of input. A web-based implementation will require the audience to physically share a space in front of a computer. A mobile version will use proximity to to drive unfolding stories. We envision the content and the logic that drives the content as a sort of transportable suitcase. Have physical closeness, will travel.

Use your arrow keys (right key) here to simulate individuals entering into a confined space in a recreation of the Emergence storytelling installation for #tribecahacks.

Puppet Theories

A semi-improvised theater play about life inside, outside and around scientific research.

Mystères de l'UNIL

Immersive game and theater performance created for 10000 children at the University of Lausanne

Science Slams in Basel and Zurich

CatCave9

Monthly English Improv theater, with a dash of science

CatCave9 is an improvisational theater format by The Catalyst theater collective, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. We are scientific researchers from Unil and EPFL, aiming to combine science and theatrical improvisation.

In our shows we explore improvisational comedy, both in short and long form, with a dash of science: each show features a guest scientist, presenting his research to the audience and the improvisers – you’ll be surprised where this takes us!

Are you a scientist and want to talk about your work at CatCave9? Please let us know, we’ll get you on stage!